Surprise Features We'd Love to Hear on Kanye West's New Album

When you've got a song as good as "Trap Queen," anything is possible. New Jersey newcomer Fetty Wap was recently tapped by Kanye to perform at the Roc City Classic in New York. That's not all—apparently Kanye told Fetty that "Trap Queen" is his favorite song out right now.

Fetty still has a long way to go before people stop thinking of him as a one-hit wonder, but "RGF Island" was a strong follow-up, and we could see this rapper/singer coming up with a killer hook or singing/rapping a show-stealing verse. But will he get the opportunity?

Why hasn't this already happened?

FKA twigs and Kanye have some collaborators in common with producers like Arca and Emile Haynie, but this match-up goes way beyond mutual friends. There are perhaps no two artists with such a good sense of aesthetics and performance making music today, and they both sit so comfortably on the bleeding edge of creativity. If Kanye West is looking to bring the coolest, most forward-thinking and ambitious artists on board to help him with his new album, he'd be crazy not to extend an invitation to twigs.

This needs to happen, and we're confident that it will, eventually. Is now the time?

Related: The Perfect FKA twigs GIFs For Every Occasion

Young Thug is already a star. He's a true wild card, and it's impossible to predict what path his career will take, but for right now, he's one of the hottest in the game. He's got an uncanny ability to come up with off-kilter flows and unforgettable hooks, and he makes it all look so easy. But he's still got a long way to go.

We know that Kanye is a Young Thug fan, and we know that the two artists have worked together, but we've yet to hear any proof. Over the past years, we've heard Thug get more polished and more focused. Just the mixing and mastering quality alone has done wonders for making his oddball deliveries more palatable and accessible. For him to continue his evolution, getting involved with a Kanye project could be a game-changer.

Related: Watch a 19-Year-Old Young Thug Predict His Future

We know that Kacy Hill is now G.O.O.D. Music, so it wouldn't be that crazy if she was involved with Kanye's new album, but it would still be a definite surprise. Kacy has still only released one song, and it would be a pretty huge step if her next move was a feature on Kanye's album.

Kacy Hill has definite pop potential, but her ear for music is deeper than that—when we talked to her last year she told us she grew up on classical music and that her biggest influences are Chopin and Debussy. For Kanye's massively ambitious compositions, that kind of ear could be a huge asset.

Unlike a lot of veteran rappers—who tend to get less creative as they got more financially comfortable—Kanye West still has his ear to the streets (or the web). He's always up on the latest trends in music, and he always seems to be looking out for the next young talent who could fuck up the game if given the platform.

The other night, we saw Allan Kingdom seize the day during a charismatic performance alongside Kanye at the 2015 BRIT Awards. It came out of nowhere—there was no prior news of the two working together, no Instagrams, no tweets. So it makes you wonder: who's next? One great choice would be Texas' Kevin Abstract. He's got a unique and contagious energy, he's ferociously creative, and he got his start when he met a bunch of collaborators on Kanye To The, so it would just make sense. Oh yeah, and he's down with Allan Kingdom.

Kevin on the Kanye album would be a big surprise, but it would almost certainly be an enormous win.

Read our interview with Kevin Abstract here.

This won't even really be much of a surprise if (when?!) it happens. Kanye brought a bunch of the grime scene on stage with him when he premiered "All Day" at the Brits and there have been suggestions in the past few days that Skepta and Kanye have been in the studio together. Last night, Kanye performed a surprise show at KOKO in London, and Skepta was onstage for most of the show, performing multiple songs and dancing alongside the G.OO.D. music crew.

Kanye is fucking with grime heavy right now, and whether Skepta spits a verse on the album, or contributes production, we can't wait to see what kind of music this cross Atlantic collaboration brings us.

When Travis Scott linked up with Yung Lean and Yung Gud on Lean's Unknown Memory, it felt like a revolutionary moment in a sense. Lean's typically online only brand of alien hip-hop was grounded thanks to an endorsement from a powerful and trusted figure. Not only that, but the collaboration made total sense, with Scott integrating himself into the bizarre world of the Sad Boys effortlessly. It made Lean look normal, and Scott look adventurous.

That connection that was built from the collaboration on "Ghosttown" has opened up hundreds of possibilities, and the most exciting of which involves Lean and his MVP (most valuable producer, duh) working with the deity that is Yeezus. Hell, "Ghosttown" already sounds like a track Kanye would be eager to hop on, so it's not too out there as far as proposed Yeezy collaborations go. With the rumors of Yung Gud having already collaborated with Justin Bieber, it seems like the big guys are finally starting to catch on.

Something about the Sad Boys' post-808s & Heartbreak futurism just bodes well with the direction Kanye has been headed in as of late, making the prospect of the three working together all the more exciting. We already know that Lean has been working with Mike Dean, so there's a very good chance of this happening, and there's a very good chance of it pissing off a lot of people, too.

Mssingno has only one official release to his name, and that dropped in November 2013, but what an incredible release it was. The self-titled four tracker was an amazingly singular effort, boasting R&B samples (R. Kelly's "I'm A Flirt" gets a brilliant makeover on "XE2"), lush but vivid bells and synths, and lots of chest-rattling bass. There hasn't been a lot in the way of new music since then, but Mssingno has been hard at work—signing to TriAngle Records, DJing events alongside people like Evian Christ, and working on new music.

But why would Kanye tap him for production? First off, we can assume that someone in Kanye's camp is paying attention to TriAngle Records, since they picked up on Evian Christ after his TriAngle release. More importantly, if Yeezus is anything to go by, Kanye isn't trying to work with the same producers as everyone else—he wants the Arcas, Evian Christs, and Gesaffelsteins of the world to make his record sound different.

Rather than aggressive and abrasive, on So Help Me God there is space for the lush, dense melodies of Cashmere Cat and Sinjin Hawke (who worked on "Wolves"), and that's where Mssingno could fit in.

GoldLink's The God Complex project proved him a force to reckoned with, a rapper with an immensely promising future. He's now working with Rick Rubin, aka the dude that made Yeezus as skeletal as it ended up being, meaning that a GoldLink and 'Ye track is looking like a very feasible possibility. The excitable bounce of GoldLink's sound might sound like an odd pick for a Kanye collaboration, but Kanye has made it evident time and time again that he loves to challenge himself and knows the value of surprise.

Clams Casino pretty much established the blueprint for that very particular type of production that A$AP Rocky works so well with: blunted atmospherics, angelic vocal samples, and unorthodox but hard as hell percussion. That Clams has yet to work with more hip-hop heavyweights than he has is just a little surprising, but it's clear that he's got what it takes.

The ways in which Clams incorporates melody into his instrumentals bodes well with Kanye's current love affair with more traditionally musical hip-hop production. The thought of Ye going ham over a beautiful Clams beat like a more positive "Blood On the Leaves" is exciting to say the least. Although we don't really know what to expect from Clams this point with his ever-expanding versatility, and it's exactly that aspect of his music that makes us think he'd work so well with Kanye.

Kanye wants people to respect the artistry. And he seems to like working with multi-faceted, multi-talented artists who can do more than "just" rap or "just" sing. People like Kid Cudi, Justin Vernon, and even Allan Kingdom bring a wide-ranging skill-set to the table, and D.R.A.M. is just the same. He raps, has an awesome raw singing voice, a great ear for melody, an infectious energy, and he's a producer too.

Oh, and hanging out with frequent Kanye collaborator Mike Dean probably helps.

Considering Allan Kingdom's status with Kanye, this one just seems like common sense. Ye surely knows about the lo-fi R&B wunderkind Corbin at this point, and if he doesn't then there's no doubting that Allan will eventually introduce him to the rest of his bandmates in thestand4rd. Kanye always appreciates a bit of melancholy here and there, and we can't think of anyone better to help Ye achieve a sense of forlorn misery than Corbin himself.

After gaining viral popularity for his incredible debut video, "Without U," Corbin's popularity was assured early on. He's now worked with Shlohmo, aka one of the most in-demand producers in indie music right now, so whilst his steady road to success is maybe a little less jarring than Allan's sudden rise to impending super-stardom, it's not too hard to imagine Corbin also working on a track with the biggest rapper in the world.

We're just joking with this one. But it would be kind of funny.... right?